You Are More
by Autobot Novastar
Summary: You might think that this is just another story about a girl getting pulled into the Transformers universe, but it's not. This really happened, is happening. This is a story about love, hardship, family, and overcoming it all to protect the people you love most in the world. This is my story. Twins/OC Sunstreaker/OC/Sideswipe
1. All In and In Trouble

**Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers. Only the plot and OCs are mine.**

 **Alright, here we go again. I've rewritten and reposted this story several times and I'm just going to take a leap of faith. So, here is the first chapter of my new story, _You Are More_. Enjoy the ride! **

* * *

I was an impractical type of person.

I'd been told that practically my entire life.

Maybe that was why on my seventeenth birthday, when I should have been celebrating with a nice dinner with my mother and brother, or having a night on the town with my best friends, here I was running for my life with the rest of my coworkers and city.

One minute I had been organizing a bunch of junk into different bins in stuffy storage room in the back of the store and the next thing I knew; I was being pulled up by my elbow and told that aliens were attacking us.

 _Aliens? Seriously?_

My first thought was that this was just some ploy for the new Transformers movie that had just been released but as Danny pulled me out into the humid Nevada sun I could hear the shrill screams of terror around us.

 _Huh. Not a ploy._

We immediately began running for our lives and I was caught up on how the hell I managed to get myself into this situation.

I guess if I'm going to tell this story right, I should probably tell it from the very beginning…

* * *

 **Five Days Earlier**

"Nathalia, Nate! If you don't get your lazy _culos_ down these stairs in the next ten minutes, you're going to be late for _escuela_!" Maria's voice carried up the stairs and into my room where I was laying curled up in a ball underneath my purple duvet contemplating whether or not graduating was really that important to me.

With a groan, I forced my chocolate brown eyes open, and rolled to the left and off of my bed. I landed on the floor in a heap with a loud, "Oofh!", escaping my lips.

As I rubbed at the dark circles underneath my eyes, I faintly heard the sound of feet pounding against the hardwood floor as they sprinted down the hallway.

I grinned and worked on detangling myself from my duvet. Once free, I sprinted over to the door in the far corner of my room that connected to the bathroom. I didn't bother to close it behind me and instead ran to the bathroom's other door, slamming my body weight onto it and hitting the lock just as a body hit the exterior frame of the door and bounced off.

Snickering to myself, I moved back into my room to grab my school uniform. I could hear my brother whimpering and 'scratching' at the door like a dog would outside my bedroom door which I had thankfully locked last night before bed.

"Sorry Nate, but I'm supposed to meet Carly and the twins at our spot before homeroom and you take _forever_ in the bathroom!" I called through the oak door, and hear him slump against it in defeat.

"I only take _forever_ -" He emphasized the word like I had, making me roll my eyes, "-because I have to make my hair look absolutely perfect before I can leave the house!"

"Why?" I questioned as I turned on the shower, and waited for our abnormally slow hot water tank to heat up.

"I need to look good for all of the chicas," He purred through the wood, and I laughed at his typical antics.

Stepping into the hot stream of the shower, I rolled my sore shoulders a few times to loosen up the muscles a little bit. Reaching for my shampoo, I squirted a little onto the palm of my hand.

"What chica con dos dedos de frente would want you?"

"Perra."

Five minutes later, I was out of the shower and towel drying my damp hair as finished buttoning up my white long sleeved shirt. I caught a glimpse in my full length mirror as I made my way to my vanity. My tan complexion stared back at me; my dark, starting to once again naturally curl, hair hanging loosely down my back. I worked on rolling my sleeves and making sure my shirt was tucked neatly into my dark blue skirt.

Sighing, I sat down and quickly brushed a little bit of blush onto my cheeks. I reached for my mascara, and brushed it over my lashes a few times.

 _That should be good…_

I wasn't the pickiest person about my makeup, and didn't really care that much for it. In my opinion, girls my age should use their brains when trying to get a guy rather beauty anyone. Slipping on my dark blue and red plaid shoes, I grabbed my backpack and darted down our stairs two at a time. Upon entering the kitchen, I saw Nate sitting at our island, shoveling as much food into his mouth as possible.

I rolled my eyes and opened the fridge to grab myself the pitcher of orange juice, "I find it incredible that we don't have to give him the heimlich daily."

Maria smacked me on the butt with an oven mitt as I passed her, making me laugh as I swiped the last piece of bacon off of Nate's plate, "Be nice to your brother Nat."

"Nice? Hmm, I'll start being nice when he starts going to bed before two in the morning," I bit into the crispy piece of bacon, "Seriously _Nathanial_ , why were you still Facetiming at two in the morning? What girl could be that senseless?"

Nate just smirked, "I wouldn't call your best friend senseless, she might hurt you for it."

My eyes widened, and I would've lunged across the table but Maria's warm arm wrapped around my waist, and effectively stopped me in my mission to kill my brother, "So Nat,"

My brother took that as his hint to run out to the car and wait for us there, "What do you have planned for your birthday celebration?"

I smiled and leaned my head so that it was resting on her shoulder, "I haven't really thought about it that much. I figured we could just have a small celebration with the twins, Carly, Nate, you, and I."

She smiled, "I think that could be arranged sweetheart."

"Thanks Maria!" I beamed, but degraded a bit as I watched her flinch at 'Maria'.

Maria had adopted me five years ago. Before that, I had been bounced around foster home to foster home. My parents died in a car crash when I was four and I had been placed in the system upon their deaths. I had no living relatives. At least, none that I had ever met and no one came forward to claim the scared little girl who had sat in the waiting room of the hospital on the cold and stormy winter night that claimed her parent's lives.

The little girl who had sat clutching the tatty brown bear who looked a lot worse for wear with his one button eye and stuffing-less right paw, but she had hung onto him like a lifeline. When they told her that her parents were now somewhere called Heaven and that they weren't coming back for her. When she was placed into the system and sent to her first abusive foster home. When the bear was finally taken away from her and sold at a yard sale by her callous caretaker for a quarter to a little dark haired boy who snatched the thing up like a lifeline and crushed it to his chest in what would have been a breathtaking hug as his red-haired mother complained about germs and dug in her purse for some sanitizer.

I tried to shake my head of the memory as Maria ushered me out to the car where Nate was waiting. We only had one car at the current time because Maria worked in the downtown hospital as a nurse to try and pay the income. She had little money from her husband's life insurance from when Antonio, Nate's dad, had passed away after suffering blunt force trauma to the head. He had been a construction contractor of his own firm and that auspicious day on the job he had forgotten his hard helmet at home. That day, had sadly been his last.

I had been through seven foster homes during my nine years in the system.

Everyone called me a problem child, the child they couldn't contain.

It wasn't that they couldn't contain as much as I didn't want to be contained.

I had run away probably four different times.

I had taken prescription medicine and sold it.

I tried to commit suicide once and still had the scars to prove it.

Here's the thing.

I had run to escape Mr. Johnson from cutting me with a knife or in other cases to escape beatings.

I had sold the prescription medicine because they weren't feeding me and I had to steal or starve.

I had tried to commit suicide because the boyfriend of my current caretaker in the home was trying to shoot me with a gun so I figured if I was going to die anyway, it would be by my hand before it would be by his. So, I had locked the bathroom door, hid in the closet, and slit the main arteries on both my wrists.

It wasn't my best idea.

Thank God I had lived through it.

I was sent to the hospital where Maria worked; she had been the nurse that had overseen nursing me back to health. Luck would have it that she already had a foster license and the moment she learned I was a foster kid, she claimed the day I was released from the hospital she would take me home with her.

And she did.

I met her older son Nate (who was only older by two months), and we became almost like siblings immediately in our bickering and playful fights. It wasn't like the other homes where a foster brother meant being scared and having to watch my back. Nate was different; he had only known me for a few days and already was sticking up for me at school. After a month of living with them, she asked me the question that I thought I would never hear being as old as I was in the system for as long as I had been.

"Would you like to make this a more permanent arrangement?"

I had almost dropped the plate I had been drying as Nate was washing and handing them to me every few seconds.

I said yes, and it had been the best decision I had ever made. Now I had a stable home, great friends and a loving family.

I climbed in the backseat of the car, pausing to lovingly smack my big brother on the back of his head, causing Maria to shoot me a glare. I knew she didn't really play favorites even though Nate was her biological son and I was not. I instead grabbed the aux cord, and plugged in my phone so I could listen to my music instead of Nate's poor excuse of music.

The Rosatis, Larsons, Vias, Johnsons, Wrighters, Georges, and Currys the farthest thing from my mind.

* * *

"Bye kiddos," Maria blew us both kisses as I closed the door to her Jeep and made my way over to where our friends were waiting for Nate and me.

Carly Jensen: beautiful, blond, thin. Carly had been a gymnast her entire life so she had grown up physically fit. Her 5"4' frame was three inches shorter than me but that never seemed to stop Carly. Instead of wearing flats like most of the girls in our grade, she was instead balanced in a pair of plain black heels. I giggled as I walked over to give her a hug, her blond hair hanging annoyingly naturally straight down her back.

"Hey Thalia," She grinned, as her brother walked forward to scoop me up and spin me around in a circle, "John! Let me down!" I laughed, and he obliged, placing a brotherly kiss onto my cheek before stepping back to let his twin pull me close to him.

"Hey, she's my girlfriend asshat, get your own!" He winked at his brother before swooping down to place a chaste kiss onto my lips, "Hey Nats."

"Hiya." I grinned up at him as he flipped his platinum blond hair out of his eyes, and flipped off his twin who had been indiscreetly telling Nate that he was actually my favorite twin.

Yes, his twin.

Jared and John are identical twins, born two minutes apart. They both swim like me and have a great muscle build. They're almost exactly alike, except their personalities are slightly different. Last year, Jared finally got the confidence to ask me out to Prom. It was really cute the way the way he did it too. I was swimming the 1000 freestyle and was on my last lap. I looked ahead of me to see a giant piece of laminated paper that read 'Prom?' in it in swirly letters with purple Sharpie.

I hit the touchpad on the other end of the pool and looked at the other end of the pool to see my teammates cheering as Jared held the poster over his head, beaming smile on his face. I got out of the water and ran around the pool deck, only to rush towards Jared who scooped me up and spun me around, planting a kiss on my cheek. I was so caught up in that moment that I forgot to check my time on the board which had been a new school record.

Since then we had been inseparable, and he was the sweetest person ever. Carly was actually okay with me dating him because we didn't get all mushy like other couples did. My brother tended to get annoyed though.

"Here's your hot chocolate by the way," Carly commented and handed me the steaming cup.

I grinned and reached for my wallet to pay her back but she just held up a hand, "You paid for me the last time, now we're even."

The class bell rang, and we groaned.

As we made our way up the steps, as I fixed my navy tie, I turned to Carly, and shot her a knowing look as she took a sip of her expresso, "So, what is this I'm hearing about you Facetiming my brother until two this morning?"

As she began snorting and choking, I slipped out of Jared's hold to smack her on the back and help the beverage go down her throat instead of into her lungs. When she finally cleared her throat well enough to speak, she leveled me with a blasé expression, and hoarsely inquired, " _What_?"

"You heard me. Don't encourage his shenanigans."

"Nats," She started as we reached our side by side lockers and began to twist in our combos, "Why on Earth would I ever want to date your brother? You're already dating one of mine! That would just be _weird_!"

She shot me a look as she grabbed her government book, and closed her locker, "We were working on our Physics lab, y'know the one that determines whether or not I'm still passing Physics and can dive in the meet on Friday?"

"Oh. Yeah." She giggled and wrapped an arm around my shoulders as we made our way to class

"I love you, but you're way too gulliable for your own good!"

First period had flown by and before I knew it I was sitting in my least favorite class, Debate. I hated talking in front of people, and I was to give the opposing argument against my least favorite person today, Hanna Halle. Hanna has made it her goal to make my life a living hell since I'd arrived here. From gum in my hair to filling my locker with itching powder the girl had a way of making my life miserable. She hated me and made it blatantly clear for everyone to see. Everyone except the teachers that is. Somehow the girl got away with being the perfect little angel in their eyes; student body president, captain of the varsity cheer squad. She was the typical popular blonde cheerleader.

"-and that is why I believe we should still have the death penalty in the United States." Hanna finished her argument, and made her way back to her seat, pausing to smirk at me. I sneered back and continued to doodle in my notebook. I was probably the shittiest drawer in the world, so I usually would just draw random lines and shapes but more recently, coupled with some reoccurring dream I had been having, I been seeing symbols. Not like an alphabet or anything like that, but different symbols. Some were softer around the edges opposed to others that were more jagged and rough. Carly thought that maybe the symbols were something I was seeing in the dream but I wasn't sure.

"-wson. Ms. Dawson!" Mr. Morris called, and Carly, who sits behind me in class, kicked the back of my seat, making me jolt upright and smack the edge of my notebook off my desk. It landed nearby but landed unfortunately near Hanna's foot. She picked it up before I could grab it, and began to flip through the pages.

"Aww, look at the little freak's drawings. Looks like she made up her own alien language! How cute!" She scoffed before ripping out the top page and crumpling it into a ball, "Too bad no one else speaks geek!"

I lunged out of my seat only to have Jared reach out and grab my arm gently but forcibly, "Don't," he warned me, shaking his head.

"Ms. Dawson!" Mr. Morris remarked again, and my attention snapped to him, "You are giving the opposing speech remember…?"

"Oh. Yes." I grabbed my notecards clumsily from my binder, and made my way to the podium in the front of the room.

I took a few deep, shaky breaths and began my argument, "U-unlike my opponent, I-I bei-believe…." It trailed off as my vision became blurrier and blurrier. I shut my eyes and tried to concentrate on steading my shaking hands that were still clutching the cards.

"I'm so sorry..." I broke off, "I can't do this."

I dashed for the door, hearing the concerned yells of my best friends and brother behind me.

Two minutes later, I was holed up in the handicap bathroom, trying my best to press the correct buttons on my cell phone with my sweaty fingers. Finally, I hit the right numbers, and sighed in relief.

"Henri? I need you to come and get me. Please."

Half an hour later, I was back in the world I knew and loved. Henri had picked me up from the school and driven me to his house back in Vaziri. If you could call it a house…

Both of Henri's parents were deceased, and the only one still alive was his older brother, Jason, who did what he thought was best to take care of Henri. What he thought was best though...

Henri had learned to take care of himself at the age of seven, when his brother began drug dealing. His brother became an addict to some of the drugs he dealt and would do anything to get his fix. Including falling into even more debt as a street racer. He had taught Henri his ways as well, hoping that teaching him the skills would assist in paying off his own debt.

Not even old enough to shave, and the boy had learned how to race better than many of the guys that had doing it for years.

He was ten years old, and I had been twelve when we had first met. His asshole eighteen-year-old brother had taken a strong liking to me, too strong. I had been a rebel back then though, and had appreciated receiving _real_ attention for the first time since my parents died. I had agreed to be his girlfriend, and he had taught me his ways. Not the drug dealing or anything or that sort but instead he taught me about street racing.

I became good, good enough that I had outran the cops enough times and had won enough races that we were going to get out. To leave the shitty life that Vaziri had given us and run. By we, I mean Henri, my current foster mother, and I. Her name was Shannon Curry and she was one of the kindest and purest people I had ever met.

She was in a messy relationship with her boyfriend, Cameron. He had abused her more times than I could count and threatened her that if she ever tried to leave, he'd slit both of our throats. I'd come home one day to find her curled up crying on the linoleum floor in the bathroom.

Cameron had really done a number on her this time. Her face had slashes all over it from his pocket knife and he had stepped on her left leg hard enough to break it. I had called Henri and we had rushed her to the hospital where the doctors had treated her wounds. That was the moment that I decided that enough was enough. I called Jason and told him to set up an all-in race. An all-in race is virtually what it sounds like: any and all earnings made in the past month must be sacrificed as an entry fee. The racer who wins, wins it all.

I won.

The problem was, by the time I got back to the house to get Shannon, Cameron had put a bullet through her temple. From there I met Maria, and Nate and the rest is history.

"Why don't you just lay the bitch out? You could take her!" Henri grinned as he leaned across the table, mouth full of Chinese food. I pushed the now fifteen-year-old away with a grin, and cackled, "I don't think it's that simple bud."

"Why isn't it? She's a bully, and bullies always get what are coming to them." He affirmed as he leaned back in his chair and tossed his empty box and chopsticks onto the table.

"Well if the universe doesn't deem her worthy enough to be taken care of by them, I'll do it myself." I sipped my Sprite and l looked up in surprise as I heard the front door open and shut.

"Shit." Henri hissed and began to push me towards the back door as I scrambled to grab my phone and backpack. Jason was home. I hadn't talked to him in years and didn't plan to anytime soon. The guy was seriously an asshole

"I thought you said he wouldn't be home until 6," I whispered back and he moaned, "I don't know why he's here but I'll just have to see you later at the race."

"See you bud." I beamed as he closed the door behind me.

 _Now what…?_

* * *

I had managed to not get myself knifed or raped which was a feat in itself considering the neighborhood I was in, and was now sitting in the bushes in the driveway of a random house. The household that lodged my car that I frequently "borrowed" and raced with.

A few months ago I had discovered the car and realized after watching the house for a few weeks that the owner was usually away on business. Why some rich guy was living in the ghetto with a really nice car is beyond me but I suspected that it was because he was a well to do drug dealer. I had a buddy of mine, who works at the garage where most of racers keep and repair their cars, make me a key copy to the car.

After a few minutes of traveling, I reached the secluded back road where we made our bets and ultimately started the race. I took a deep breath and tried to steady my heart rate. The music was blasting some foreign sounding sound song with a loud bass and looking around I saw the familiar sights of girls wearing slutty revealing clothes, some barely clad in bathing suits. As for the guys? I was trying not to drool over how attractive they were. I took a deep breath, and sighed. This was home.

I pulled up to the line where all the other cars were lined up and was thankful for the dark windows the Mustang were providing me with. Looking to my left, I could see Henri waving at me knowingly from his own car, and a glance to my right told me that Jason was preoccupied with some girl in a small red bikini. Rolling my eyes, I turned to roll down my window and motioned to Henri to do the same. I grabbed a stack of cash from my bag, and tossed it to Henri, "Put me down for five grand bud."

He whistled and his eyes widened, "Five grand!? Nats, that's all you have! If you loose this race, your car fund is out the window."

"If I lose this race, I can't show my face around here anymore regardless," I quipped as he rolled his almond eyes and grinned reassuringly, "If Jason hasn't figured out how to beat you yet, even with all of the upgrades he has, you honestly _are_ the best!"

"Yeah okay Hen," I looked over to see Jason finishing up his conversation, and hastily rolled up my dark-tinted window.

* * *

"God damned half bit mother fuc-"

"You watch that mouth young lady or so help me…!" Maria warned, and I grimaced as the nurse fixing me up, tugging slightly at my stitches in my arm.

"You deserved that," Nate observed from where he was relaxing on the recliner with his feet balanced on my gurney. I smirked before using my right foot to shove both of his away; it resulted in his tumbling forward and nearly onto his face if Maria had not grabbed his arm and steadied him.

"I just cannot believe that you would do something so darn reckless!" She continued ranting, "I thought we were truly past this Nathalia."

As she continued, I paused in my listening to stick my tongue out at Nate as he sneered at me.

" _Nathalia Morgan Dawson_!"

I froze.

Uh oh.

Full name means deep, _deep_ , shit.

Sheepishly I looked up at Maria only to have her frame collapse on the bed next to me and bury her face into her hands, weeping profusely.

"Aw, shit... Maria please don't... I mean, you know I don't do well when you… Nate, stop smirking and help me!"

"I just," Maria looked up at me with tear-stained eyes, "I can't lose you sweetie. I just can't. After losing Antonio.." Her voice trailed off and tears bubbled up as I leaned down to hug her. Nate was quick to join us, flinging his arms around me, his gangly form reaching well over to Maria.

"We're not going anywhere."

* * *

"What the hell do you mean I'm grounded?!"

"I mean, _no_ reading for fun, _no_ computer, _no_ smart phone and _no_ leaving the house without me unless you are going to work or school." Maria was busy grabbing every electronic device I owned and shoving them into a basket.

 _"Work?_ You have _got_ to be kidding me!"

"Serves you right," my brother smirked from his perch on my door frame, "Maybe it'll knock some sense into you since wrecking a $30,000 car didn't."

As I was contemplating once again the best way to kill my brother, Maria tossed me something that I caught out of reflex.

"Oh _hell_ no. You've gotta be kidding me." I groaned as I examined the flip phone and flopped back onto my bed as Nate laughed at my current predicament.

"You're lucky I'm giving you a phone at all young lady," Maria scolded, "It's programmed with all the necessary numbers. I want you to use it to call me when you arrive to and from work."

"How in the world do you expect me to work and go to school and swim? It's not possible? And where am I to get a job on such short notice?"

"You're off the team until further notice," Maria retorted and threw a newspaper at me as a gaped in surprise, "Your coach and I agreed it's what's best for you right now. And look in the classifieds, if you don't have something picked by dinnertime tomorrow, I can always pick for you." She walked over to me and kissed my forehead, "I'm still mad at you. But I'm glad you're okay." She cupped my chin with her hand gently and rubbed her thumb soothingly over my cheek, "I love you my beautiful Nathalia."

"Implied," I smiled as she exited the room, only pausing to ruffle my brothers perfectly styled hair. As Nate fixed his hair and turned to leave, I turned my attention to the classifieds.

"Hey Star?" Nate paused and used the nickname that Antonio has given me.

"Hmm?" I glanced up to see Nate now sitting on the edge of my bed. He pulled me into a tight hug for a moment before pulling back to look me in the eyes, "Don't do that again, okay? I can't lose my pest of a little sister."

I grinned, "Of course Naters."

He walked halfway out of my room and paused to look back at me, "I'm really glad you're okay." Then he was gone, disappearing down the hall into his bedroom.

I took a deep breath in and pushed myself off my bed and made my way over to my desk in the corner of the room. Grabbing a sharpie from the cup holding all my writing utensils, I focused my attention on the black and white print in front of me.

 _How bad could this possibly be?_

Uncapping my Sharpie, I leaned down to press the tip of the marker on the paper and —

* * *

"This is impossible!" I practically yelled, my hands shaking as I stared at the paper in front of me. It was blank. Well not completely _blank_ but void of any marks ergo the words and pictures. My purple sharpie was lying besides the paper, still unused. I groaned in frustration and set my head down on my arms.

"You're overthinking this," Carly said as she sat down across from me and pushed the steaming hot cup of hot chocolate towards me. We were downtown in the cozy nook of our favorite coffee shops. At least, it was one of _my_ favorite places. I would always come her after school the days I didn't have practice to sit down and work on homework. It was a quiet little shop on the Main Street of town nestled between the bookstore and post office. That was why this place had become a sort of problem for me.

I would come here with the best intentions of doing my homework but before I could step inside I would always end up buying a book from next door. Our bookstore had this cool idea to wrap every single book in the store in brown paper and write a brief description of the book enclosed on it without giving too much away of the actual story. The owner, Mr. Bradley, wanted us never "judge a book by its cover" whether that be people or actual books. It was a pretty cool idea and for $5 a book, it was a steal. The books could be anything from classics like to Kill a Mockingbird or new books like the Divergent series. I frequented the bookstore almost everyday and was surprised that today my book was Transformers related. I loved the G1 series and was anticipating the new movie that was set to come out next week. They had actually filmed scenes of it in downtown Mission City, about ten minutes away from our sleepy little town.

"Earth the Nathalia, Nathalia ya there?" Carly was literally snapping her fingers in front of my face trying to get my attention.

Shaking my head to clear myself of the thoughts, I reached out to grab the hot chocolate Carly had bought for me. Taking a sip I reveled in the way the beverage did not have the bitter taste coffee did. I _hated_ coffee. Nate had tricked me years ago into drinking black coffee by making me think it was cocoa. Ugh. Never again.

"Just pick something, anything to appease Maria. O-Or make it hard for her. Pick a job somewhere she won't be able to say yes to, somewhere out of the way, somewhere like..." Carly paused to turn the paper towards her and scan the jobs available, "Here." She tapped the paper twice with her red painted nail and leaned back to grab her mocha and take a long sip, cocking an eyebrow at me.

Leaning forward, I glanced at the ad she had suggested and immediately returned her grin, " _Perfect."_

 _ **Help Wanted!**_

 _ **Downtown Mission City**_

 _ **Hourly Wage of $10**_

 _ **Employee needed to organize precious metals and other valuables. Previous work experience not applicable.**_

 _ **Call Rhonda of Rhonda's Pawn Shop at 1-800-2255**_

* * *

 _ **Written: October 13, 2016**_

 _ **Published: January 3, 2017**_


	2. New Jobs and Numbers

**Chapter 2:**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers. Only the plot and OCs are mine.**

 **I wish that I had time to write more because this is a story I've been trying to write for the longest freaking time and I'll have a moment where I'm like whoa I really can't wait to write this scene later but then I'm like you better get your aft in gear you are only on Chapter 2. Anyways, here's chapter two of** _ **You Are More**_ **!**

* * *

" **I like work: it fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours." ― Jerome K Jerome**

* * *

 _Tap._

 _Tap._

 _Taptaptap._

 _Tap._

 _Tap._

 _Taptaptap._

 _Tap._

 _Tap._

 _Tapta―_

I hurriedly stopped my tapping of my nails against the wooden entrance desk as Rhonda, my possible new employer, returned to the front desk carrying a stack of papers. I had immediately taken a liking to the older woman. She was not grandmotherly as I had expected but rather looked to be in her late forties, early fifties. She had dark skin, and kind brown eyes that were accentuated by lines that I assumed she had obtained from smiling and laughing so often. She had a presence about her that seemed warm but also had a sternness in her voice that told be she was a no nonsense lady.

"Well sweetheart," She beamed, her voice twanging with a southern accent, "I have to say, your resume is pretty darn impressive considering you've never had a job before."

I ducked my head as a slight blush collected in my cheeks, "Thank you ma'am."

She continued with a bob of her head, recognizing my thanks, "I mean, captain of the women's high school swim team, vice president of the National Honors Society with a 4.00 GPA," She paused with a whistle, "I wish my granddaughter was as dedicated as you hunny. All she does is mess around with boys and get into trouble. Ya got a boyfriend?"

"I do, his name is Jared. He's my best friend Carly's older brother." I said softly, finding interest in my shoes again as the woman's gaze darted to me again. It wasn't Rhonda herself that made me nervous, it was meeting new individuals in general that put me off. The woman was being nothing but curious and kind and here I was showing off my poor manners. If Maria could see me now, she'd have smacked me. Rhonda cleared her throat, bringing me out of my thoughts and my attention back to her.

"Well hunny," She smiled warmly as if she could sense my discomfort, "I think that we could definitely work around your school schedule if you would like the job. We could have you work in the evenings, and on weekends?"

" _Yes_ ," I blurted out before I could stop myself but Rhonda didn't seem to mind too much. Her attention was instead of the stack of papers in front of her.

"There is some paperwork I'll need you to complete before you leave here today, including one that states that I'm permitted to run a more in depth background check on you," She paused as I went ramrod straight, "It's nothing too serious dear, just something to give this old woman some piece of mind in who she is hiring."

"You're not old…" I mumbled out before I could stop myself, and once I realized what I had said, I froze and my eyes went wide. The last thing in the world that I was expecting was for Rhonda to do what start laughing. It wasn't a tinkle of a laugh as much as it was a cackle. A full body laugh that had her bracing her hand against the counter to keep from falling over. Once she seemed to recover, the laugh fading with a sigh as she wiped tears from the corners of her eyes, she turned back to me with a grin.

"I think we are going to get along just fine hunny."

Fifteen minutes later, I was exiting the store and hopping back into the Carly's Jeep where it was parked along the street. Carly had been talking one the phone when I approached but hung up as she saw me walking over.

As she pushed her sunglasses upon the top of her head, Carly leveled me with a questioning look, "So?"

I smirked, "Guess who the new associate of Rhonda's Pawn Shop is?"

* * *

Maria studied that papers that I had thrust into her lap before taking my place at the dinner table across from Nate. He looked up at me quizzically as I sat down but I just winked and grabbed my knife and fork to cut myself a piece of the grilled chicken that Maria had prepared.

As I popped a piece into my mouth, and began to chew, Maria finally set the papers down, took off her reading glasses, and glanced at me. Reaching over to grab her glass of wine, she raised it in a toasting motion towards me, "Okay."

There was a moment of peace before the realization of what she was saying hit me. I went to inhale sharply, forgetting that the half chewed chicken was in my mouth, and began to choke. I began coughing out of reflex, trying to keep the large amount of food from going into my lung. Maria acted quickly enough and smacked me hard on the back, sending me flying forward. I grabbed one hand towards the table out of reflex, causing the plates and silverware to jump. Maria's wineglass jumped a few millimeters, causing some red droplets to spill onto the white tablecloth.

Coughing and hacking, I grabbed my cup of water, and chugged half the glass, trying to clear my throat enough to breathe again. With one last cough, I sat back in my chair, wheezing as I tried to catch my breath. Maria leaned back casually in her own chair, pretending as though the display she had just witnessed had never happened as she took another sip of wine from her glass.

Nate looked smugly at me from across the table, "Who needs the heimlich now?"

Maria also pretended not to hear the yelp Nate made as I kicked him under the table.

* * *

"Good to see you again hunny!" Rhonda cheerily called to me from where she was standing on her tiptoes on a stepstool to reach up, and grab a vase from the top shelf. On the other side of the register, a dark haired man stood, peering down at his phone over the rims of his dark sunglasses. He looked impatient as it essentially beeped and buzzed.

His stoic expression changed suddenly as his phone started playing a different tone, this one more melodic and rhythmic than the ones before. With a smile, he hit the call button, "Hey Ferg!"

As he began to talk to whoever was on the other line, I stepped forward to greet Rhonda. As I did, the step ladder she was on began to tilt. Eyes widening, I tossed my bookbag onto the ground, and rushed around the counter to steady the stool.

Rhonda hopped off the stool with a laugh, "Thank you my dear but this isn't my first rodeo. If the stool tips to the left, chances are I'm going to end up on the floor, but if it tips to the right, I should be okay."

I forced a laugh and did my best to pretend that my heart wasn't still trying to beat its way out of my chest.

"Now," she motioned to the customer who sounded as though he was finishing up his phone conversation, "I'll show you how to haggle over prices." Nodding, I followed her to the register.

"Alright Ferg, I love you too. I'll call you tonight when we get done shooting this scene. We've done it twice already but Bay still isn't happy so I'm going to have to stay late. Okay. Love you. Bye."

 _Wait a minute. Ferg? As in Fergie? And Bay? As in Michael Bay?_

I took a moment to really study the man standing in front of me, and that was when it finally clicked.

"You're Josh Duhamel," I blurted out before smacking my hand over my mouth.

Rhonda looked at me as though I had went crazy while the man, no _Josh Duhamel_ , lowered his sunglasses to flash me a grin. _Good lord, it's no wonder that he made the 2006 list of People's Top Fifteen Sexist Man List._

"Damn it, I thought that the sunglasses would help a lot more with being recognized," He ran a hand through his hair and let out a nervous chuckle, "How'd you know it was me?"

I blushed, and lowered my gaze from his piercing eyes, "I heard you say Ferg which I guessed was Fergie, and Bay who I guessed was Michael Bay."

He sighed, "Looks like I need to watch what I say around people…"

Stepping forward, he pulled out his wallet, and his eyes went to Rhonda, "So how much were you looking to sell the vase for? It's for my wife for her anniversary present."

"Big time movie star are ya? What movie are you in town to shoot, dear? That new Transformers movie?"

"Yes ma'am," Josh answered respectfully. Rhonda took this opportunity to nudge me, and give me a knowing look out of the corner of her eyes.

"Since you are a very kind young man, and I appreciate the amount of business that your movie is providing our town with, I will make you a deal. I'll sell this vase to you for $40, 50% off of the asking price, if you can promise me to get my girl here a tour of your set.

Josh scratched his head quizzically, "I mean I guess I can do that, it wouldn't be as different as Shia having some of his buddies on set and showing them around.. You've got a deal ma'am." As he reached into his back pocket to pull out his wallet and pay for the vase, I gave Rhonda an incredulous look. _How in the world did she know that I was a fan of Transformers?_

My eyes got wider as Josh handed Rhonda a wad of cash, telling her to keep the change before turning to me, "Here, give me your phone."

Fumbling, I pulled the item out of my back pocket, and handed it to him, hands slick with sweat. I grimaced as he took the phone in his hands and began to type, hoping that he couldn't detect how clammy my hands were just by holding the device.

He handed it back with a wink, "Just don't go selling my phone number on the interenet, okay? I've had to change numbers a few times in the past year and I've finally memorized this one."

Grabbing the the meticulously wrapped vase, he shook Rhonda's hand as he headed towards the door, "Just shoot me a text and we can set up a time in the next week when you can come view the set!" He called as he pushed open the door, and waved, slipping his dark glasses back over his eyes. The bell rang cheerily as he exited, merging effortlessly back into the busy streets.

My head whipped around to Rhonda who was already stocking the shelves again, humming and acting like we hadn't just met a famous person.

"How did you know that I was a fan of the Transformers series?"

"I didn't, but I could tell that you were a fan of him, hunny." I blushed but didn't deny the woman's accusation.

"Well," Rhonda clasped her hands together and rocked back and forth excitedly on her feet, "Are you ready to begin?"

I did my best to return her enthusiastic grin, "As ready as I'll ever be!"

She began walking towards the back of the store, talking quickly as we went, "We just moved to this new location, and things are a bit hectic still." She weaved her way quickly through the mazes of junk piled around the back of the store like they weren't there, leaving me behind to make my way through the labyrinth myself.

When she popped open the door at the back of the store, I could see a girl sitting on a countertop, bobbing her head to whatever music was blaring through her over the ear headphones. She appeared to only be a few years younger than me, and was furiously tapping away at the screen of her phone.

"Nathalia, this is my granddaughter Sky. Sky, this is our new employee, Nathalia." I wasn't sure if the girl could actually hear me or if it was by reflex but she raised on of her hands into the hair and gave me a short wave before reaching back down and continuing to text.

"Sky." Rhonda then spoke in what could only be considered a motherly tone, and the girl rolled her eyes, and sighed. She yanked the jack out of her phone before pushing them down to dangle around her neck. Shoving her phone into her pocket, she jumped down from the countertop with her fiery long braid flipping over her shoulder. Brushing her bangs out of her eyes, she popped her gum, and shot me a smile.

"Sorry Nana, James called and wanted to chat but then Zack started texting me, and then -"

Rhonda or Nana, raised up a hand and cut her off, "I don't wanna know."

She the motioned to the shelves and items surrounding us, "Welcome to the pit. Here we like to say that one man's trash is another man's treasure."

* * *

 **Messages: Nathalia Dawson and Josh Duhamel**

 _Hey Josh, It's Nathalia. We met earlier at_

 _Rhonda's.. I was wondering what days_

 _you had free this week that I could come_

 _visit the set._

 _Hey Nathalia! I haven't got any calls_

 _from any crazy fans yet so I'm assuming you_

 _kept our promise! I don't know what your school_

 _schedule is like but if you aren't busy,_

 _what are you doing tomorrow?_

 _I can make myself available!_

* * *

 **A/N: I am so sorry, I literally have no time to write anymore even though it is my stress reliever. I am in the middle of finals week, and don't know when I will have a chance to write again. I will be headed to Europe in 8 days as well :)**

* * *

 _ **Written:** **January 3, 2017**_

 _ **Published: May 8, 2018**_


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